VBA: Match results regardless of the indexes sorting? - excel

Question

I have 3 worksheets (user1, user2, result). Each sheet has three columns (A: System_ID, B: Comment, C: Last Modified Time).
The code does this:
Gets maximum last modified time between user1 and user2 in column c.
The result is to get that comment in column b (adjacent to max time found in col c)
put the result (comment) in column b in resut sheet
Simply the comment with last modified time wins and gets pasted in result WS.
Anyways, my problem is that I only can index-match if both indexes in column A have the same sorting/order.
I need to match all records in column A even if they have different row.number or row index.
How to index-match no matter the order in column A
Sub Get_LastModified_Here()
Application.EnableEvents = False
Dim Location1 As Workbook
Set Location1 = GetWorkbook("C:\Users\HP\Desktop\User_1.xlsb")
Dim Location2 As Workbook
Set Location2 = GetWorkbook("C:\Users\HP\Desktop\User_2.xlsb")
Dim SourceCell As Range, SourceRange As Range, CurrentRange As Range
Dim rngTarget As Range
Dim strAdr As String
Dim vSource As Variant, vTarget As Variant, vCurrent As Variant
Dim i As Long
Set SourceRange = Workbooks("User_2.xlsb").Sheets("Data").Range("A2:" & "A1607")
With SourceRange
Set SourceRange = .Resize(.Rows.Count, .Columns.Count + 3)
End With
strAdr = SourceRange.Address
Set rngTarget = Workbooks("User_1.xlsb").Worksheets("Data").Range(strAdr)
Set CurrentRange = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Data").Range(strAdr).Offset(0, 1)
vSource = SourceRange
vTarget = rngTarget
vCurrent = CurrentRange
For i = 1 To UBound(vSource, 1)
'Match Column A
If vSource(i, 1) = vTarget(i, 1) Then
'Check max time in Column C (user1 vs user2)
If vSource(i, 3) > vTarget(i, 3) Then
'Get max comment from ((user max)) in column B (result ws)
vCurrent(i, 1) = vSource(i, 2)
ElseIf vSource(i, 3) < vTarget(i, 3) Then
vCurrent(i, 1) = vTarget(i, 2)
ElseIf vSource(i, 3) = vTarget(i, 3) Then
vCurrent(i, 1) = vSource(i, 2)
End If
End If
Next i
SourceRange = vSource
rngTarget = vTarget
CurrentRange = vCurrent
Application.EnableEvents = True
End Sub
Here is a detailed explanation of the issue (I apologize for CAPS letters):
User1 Sheet
I have the SYSTEM_ID in ## Row 1 ##
System_ID
Comment
LastModTime
ID_1
User1 notes
09/12/2020 10:00:01 PM
User2 Sheet
I have the SAME SYSTEM_ID in ## Row 2 ##
System_ID
Comment
LastModTime
ID_1
User2 notes
09/12/2020 10:00:02 PM
This is what I GET in Result Sheet
I have the SAME SYSTEM_ID but in ## Row 3 ##
System_ID
Comment
LastModTime
ID_1
This is what I Want in Result Sheet
I have the SAME SYSTEM_ID but in ## Row 3 ##
System_ID
Comment
LastModTime
ID_1
User2 notes
09/12/2020 10:00:02 PM
What our codes CAN do
Get the comment based on the last modified time, ONLY IF "ID_1" is on THE SAME ROW #. i have tried it (didn't work)
What our codes CAN'T do
Get the comment based on the last modified time, EVEN IF "ID_1" is on A DIFFERENT ROW #. this is where I need help?

Answer 1

EDIT to confirm that the assumptions match:
Sheet User1:
| Id | Comment | LastMod |
| --- | ------- | --------|
| 3 | S1 Comm3| 2 |
| 2 | S1 Comm2| 8 |
| 1 | S1 Comm1| 6 |
Sheet User2:
| Id | Comment | LastMod |
| --- | ------- | --------|
| 1 | S2 Comm1| 3 |
| 2 | S2 Comm2| 4 |
| 3 | S2 Comm3| 8 |
Expected Output:
Id
Comment
NOTES
1
S1 Comm1
Id 1 highest mod is on sheet 1
2
S1 Comm2
Id 2 highest mod is on sheet 2
3
S2 Comm3
Id 3 highest mod is on sheet 3
One option is to build up the result set into a separate collection, and then populate your result set when finished. Since this is an operation that involved multiple lookups (checking to see if a system Id has already been visited), I like to use dictionary objects. These offer highly performant lookup operations.
I'm going to post a much simplified example below that you can hopefully use for your purposes. The code below assumes that the SystemId column is a unique key that maps an entry in sheet1 to an entry in sheet2. It also assumes that each systemId appears once per sheet. If not, it can be tweaked to support that.
The code basically loops through the range and checks if the rows in both sheets have matching system ID. If so, it adds that row to the dictionary, using the ID as a key, and a two element array containing the comment and the last mod time.
If they don't match, it checks each entry against the dictionary to see if that systemID was already visited (earlier on the other sheet). If so, it compares the entries and keeps the most recent mod time, otherwise, it leaves it as is.
Try to work through it and let us know if you need additional help.
Sub Tester()
Dim oDict As Object
Dim a(0 To 1)
Dim sUser1 As Worksheet
Dim sUser2 As Worksheet
Set oDict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
Set sUser1 = Sheets("User1")
Set sUser2 = Sheets("User2")
'Here I will assume that both ranges will always
'be the same length. I'm also hardcoding in the
'needed rows. You can use whichever logic
'works best for you to determine how to capture
'all rows in both sheets
For i = 2 To 8
'Two possibilities here:
' 1. The SystemId in both sheets match and
' can be directly compared
' 2. They differ and will each be checked
' to see if they already exist in the dict.
'You can bypass this and just treat each of the
'ranges individually, but I think it would be
'slightly more performant the way I'm doing it.
'
'Also, this assumes that each SystemId will only
'appear once in each sheet, and is a true Primary Key
If sUser1.Cells(i, 1).Value = sUser2.Cells(i, 1) Then
If sUser1.Cells(i, 3).Value > sUser2.Cells(i, 3).Value Then
MergeEntryToDictionary oDict, sUser1.Cells(i, 1).Value, _
sUser1.Cells(i, 2).Value, sUser1.Cells(i, 3).Value
Else
MergeEntryToDictionary oDict, sUser2.Cells(i, 1).Value, _
sUser2.Cells(i, 2).Value, sUser2.Cells(i, 3).Value
End If
Else
'In case they don't match, check each entry against the
'dictionary to see if the systemId has already been added.
'If not, then add it. Otherwise, compare the last mod date
'of the entry to the current, and update if needed.
MergeEntryToDictionary oDict, sUser1.Cells(i, 1).Value, _
sUser1.Cells(i, 2).Value, sUser1.Cells(i, 3).Value
MergeEntryToDictionary oDict, sUser2.Cells(i, 1).Value, _
sUser2.Cells(i, 2).Value, sUser2.Cells(i, 3).Value
End If
Next i
'Below prints back to sheet
Dim k As Variant
Dim n As Long
n = 2
For Each k In oDict.keys
Sheets("result").Cells(n, 1).Value = k
Sheets("result").Cells(n, 2).Value = oDict(k)(0)
Sheets("result").Cells(n, 3).Value = oDict(k)(1)
n = n + 1
Next k
End Sub
Function MergeEntryToDictionary(ByRef oDict As Object, _
SystemId As String, _
sComment As String, _
LastModTime As Double) As Boolean
Dim a(0 To 2)
If oDict.exists(SystemId) Then
If LastModTime > oDict(SystemId)(1) Then
a(0) = sComment
a(1) = LastModTime
oDict(SystemId) = a
End If
Else
a(0) = sComment
a(1) = LastModTime
oDict.Add SystemId, a
End If
MergeEntryToDictionary = True
End Function